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Nine Inch Nails at the Tabernacle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trent Reznor is 40? Can’t be. What happened to the angry young man who took “industrial music” to the masses with his breakthrough 1989 album, “Pretty Hate Machine”? What happened to the guy who played on the first-ever Lollapalooza tour, back in 1991, when that sort of thing seemed so daring? What happened, for that matter, to the 1990s?
For some of Reznor’s contemporaries, the ’90s will be the decade that traps them in amber â€â€? they’re frozen, and they’ll never get out. But Reznor has somehow hung around, and his nom de band, Nine Inch Nails, is living proof that ferocious musicians don’t have to soften with age. If anything, Reznor seems as hard as ever.
He wore a tank top Saturday night during his Tabernacle concert, the first of a two-night stand, and it was impossible not to notice his hulking upper body, which glistened with sweat like a professional wrestler’s. His 90-minute set was also solid â€â€? Reznor and his backup musicians delivered a searing, hit-filled, encore-free performance that was the most exciting Atlanta concert this reviewer has seen all year.
Reznor played some keyboard and guitar, but mostly he used his voice. He’s fond of dramatic emotional shifts, and he has a gift for transitioning from a nervous croon to a slashing scream. The audience screamed along with almost frightening intensity.
Reznor, who does not have a reputation as the world’s most eager-to-please musician, certainly delivered a fan-friendly set, playing ferocious versions of “Wish,” “March of the Pigs” and “Terrible Lie.” He also worked through “Closer” and “Hurt,” two songs that reside in the darkest corners of pop. You may remember that Johnny Cash covered “Hurt” just before his death. Hearing Reznor play it Saturday, the song seemed akin to a tune Hank Williams used to sing: “I”ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive.”
Reznor also performed Nine Inch Nails’ recent hit, “The Hand That Feeds,” which by NIN standards is a rather conventional pop song. It has has lyrics about getting off your knees and a beat you can dance to.
Lyrics about resisting submission constitute a long-standing Nine Inch Nails theme. The band’s final song Saturday, “Head Like A Hole,” features the famous line “I’d rather die than give you control.” The crowd roared the words, both fighting the pressure to cede control and yielding to the impulse to lose it.
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